RETURN OF THE REPUBLICAN SLIME MACHINE

[Katie]

Thought this was interesting:

Eric Alterman: Altercation
Sept. 18, 2003 / 12:54 PM ET

RETURN OF THE REPUBLICAN SLIME MACHINE

How scared are the Republicans of Wesley Clark? You can judge by how dirty their tactics become. Remember Mike Dukakis’ alleged history of mental illness? That one had the Republicans working on a rumor circulated by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. Remember John McCain’s out-of-wedlock black child? His breakdown under torture in Vietnam? What about Bill Clinton’s out-of-wedlock black child? The gun-running/drug deals and murders he caused at Mena airport in Arkansas? And Al Gore was the serial liar. Yeah, right. Get ready, General.

George Will began it weeks ago. (Here’s the original.) Now check out this op-ed by Ralph Peters in Murdoch’s New York Post. There’s also a cartoon on Page Six, which is not online, that depicts the Democrats in straightjackets. (Meanwhile, my buddy Richard Cohen addresses this issue rather more sensibly this morning, but still edges a little close to the Republican trap for my taste.) Anyway, I sure would like to see Clark kick a little ass on the use of these tactics. Democrats have rolled over for too long.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/752664.asp#030918

[LeftCoast]

1. Who needs Republicans when you've got GD?

*sorry - needlessly cynical*

[nomaco-10]

2. Cynical, maybe. Accurate, yes.

Sad isn't it?

[QC]

3. I was about to post the same thing, actually.

They can just spend their $200,000,000 on whores, blow, and booze and let us "liberals" and "progressives" and "leftists" do their job for them.

[LeftCoast]

4. It's amazing that at least some of these people don't see the hypocrisy

in their spinning of the candidates. Some of these folks make Fox look "Fair and Balanced"

[QC]

5. Amazing and very ugly at the same time.

One would normally have to go to the freak show at the county fair to get a gander at what we DUers get to see for free every day!

[LeftCoast]

6. ROFL!

Thanks for that image! You know how they always say, if you're giving a speech, imagine the audience naked? I'll be thinking of "the Freak Show" next time I head into GD. :D

[OKNancy]

14. No kidding -- and Mike Ruppert too

For all those people who love From the Wilderness and Mike Ruppert, he is one of the ones who still believes the Mena airport /murder/drug running story about Clinton

[Robin Hood]

7. Whoa!! Look what he says to Ralph Nader..lol

FINE GREEN WHINES

Speaking of people who need their (metaphorical) butts kicked, but good, Ralph Nader whines, “Old-timers years ago would have wondered what the Mayor means by marketing NYC. Cities were viewed more benignly when they were more livable, more employable at good wages, more replete with public institutions like good libraries, good public transit, good schools, good hospitals and clinics and good recreational facilities in the neighborhoods. New York City is crumbling on these measurements.”

Hey Ralph, no one, and I mean no one on the planet, is more responsible for the deterioration in the quality of life of my city than you are, bud. All you had to do was say, “I ran a great race and thanks for your support but this guy Bush is scary. Vote for Al, not me and we’ll we what we can get at the bargaining table….” But no, you wanted to elect Bush. And you did. Congrats.

All U.S. cities are struggling under the weight of the president’s malign neglect and the costs of his fiscal policies and needless war. And with all the damage you’ve caused the country, you’re worried about Snapple in New York schools. So shut up about my city, fella, and go get some help for that martyr complex of yours. You call yourself a progressive and yet you even tried to defeat Paul Wellstone. Sure, you’ll get your millionaire’s tax cut, but poor and working people in this city have enough burdens to bear without another hypocritical pro-Bush intervention this time around.

Get lost, Ralph. In fact, check with your buddy Dick Cheney. I hear he knows some really comfy out-of the-way, millionaire-only spots to get loose. And boy does that guy owe you a favor…

[dfong63]

8. that's an ignorant cheap shot - shame on the author

... Ralph Nader did more for America than HE ever did.

and blaming Nader for the fact that Bush stole the election... overlooks the fact that it was the DEMS that ALLOWED it to be stolen... all those dirty disenfranchisement tricks that Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris played, required years of preparation, during which time the DEMS might have stopped them. but they didn't.

and even without Nader, Bush could still have stolen the election, by having the FL legislature override the popular vote. Nader was only one factor in that election. before the dems point the finger of blame at Nader, they ought to take a hard look in the mirror and ask why THEY didn't do any of the things that might have prevented the election theft.

furthermore, all the scapegoating in the world won't stop election 2004 from being stolen. blaming Nader is wrong, stupid, ignorant, a waste of time.

[union_maid]

9. It's never a waste of time

" blaming Nader is wrong, stupid, ignorant, a waste of time."

Keeping in mind what happened and who did what is not a waste of time. The Democrats didn't do nearly enough to hand Nader his ass last time around. They need to be aware in case they need to do it this time.

[jumptheshadow]

10. The Post cartoon

It looks like it's offline for a day or two so I can't post it here. But it is posted in the Media section of DU (Wack-a-Doodle NY Post).

Thank you, Katie, for your post. While we are fighting here, our opponents are smearing ALL of our candidates.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Pepperbelly]

12. Check out this article ...

It's from World Net Daily, a part of the gop smear machine and see how closely the so-called liberals on this board mirror what these righties are saying. It is amazing.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34685

[union_maid]

13. One thing is kind of good

Although Republicans no doubt prefer to face any candidate rather than Clark right now, it's not like the general election, where Nader's campaign directly helped the GOP. Anything they do to hurt Clark is going to help another frontrunner and any of them can provide a serious challenge to Bush if he doesn't get a few miracles in terms of..oh, a brain, a heart and some courage, as of election time. However, I do think they'll be expending their best ammo on Clark and saving some of their best stuff for attacking the others for the general election. That's really the best strategy they can come up with, I'd think. If Clark does prevail despite their best efforts, they'll just make stuff up out of whole cloth for the general election.

[jumptheshadow]

15. The response

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but the RW campaign seems to be carefully calibrated. The Murdoch properties certainly are in its leading flank, which is one reason why I read the Post's editorial pages. The tactics are amazingly obvious. The Dems, however, are either too splintered or too polite to recognize the scheme and respond to it.

And, changing the subject to Wesley Clark: The genuine, intelligent questions about Pristina seem to have been augmented by a relentless barrage of spam, probably coming from other campaigns. Rather then responding in a piecemeal fashion all the time, I wonder if it would be useful for Clark supporters to ask the Clark campaign to take the time to write a well-reasoned response that answers any questions raised by the incident. The investment of a few days in this process might go a long way toward defusing a question that will come up again and again.

[CWebster]

16. The one on the Right

or the one that Alterman increasingly participates in on the Left?